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Friday, December 28, 2012

Foodie Friday: Christmas Gingerbread "Crawl"

Two of my favorite things to do at Walt Disney World, especially at the holidays, are eating and "touring" the Deluxe Resorts looking at all the awesome decorations. On a recent trip I decided to combine the two and do a "Gingerbread Crawl"! This is something you could easily modify by skipping the first two stops I made and do on a day that you had tickets to the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party so that you would not have to use one of your park admission tickets. (You can enter the Magic Kingdom at 4pm using your Party ticket instead of a regular ticket, thus saving that admission for another day.) So I began my adventure with this "little" beauty:

You can get this at several locations including Studios Catering Co., Starring Rolls Bakery and ABC Commissary. It was dense and moist with just the right "molasses-y" flavor. The cream cheese icing was plentiful and balanced the flavor nicely. It was seriously big enough for 2-4 people to share! The Santa Mickey hat is molded from white and dark chocolate. All in all, quite the sugar overload, but well worth it! Next stop for me this night was the Osborne Lights display. Stop at the Newsstand for a Gingerbread Hot Chocolate to sip as you enjoy the light and music display!

Next stop was the Gingerbread Bake Shop in the American pavilion at EPCOT.

I stuck to "tradition" here and got a Gingerbread man cookie to enjoy while listening to the music from the Candlelight Processional and waiting for the Illuminations fireworks. This location opens around 1:30 most days, so don't plan to visit earlier in the afternoon.

Ok, here is where you would join the "Crawl" if you were doing it on a day you were attending the MVMCP. Next stop is the Boardwalk and their Display. If you want to purchase something from their Gingerbread house I was told it is open 2-4pm daily so I was not able to buy any treats. But it was still worth the trip for the display:

Can you find all the Hidden Mickeys?

Next stop were the Yacht and Beach Club resorts:

The Yacht Club didn't have any gingerbread or goodies, but the train display was worth stopping for. The detail was absolutely amazing. And yes, most of those building you see, including the "Earful Tower" are Dept. 56 collectibles. The Beach Club had THE most AMAZING Carousel:

Notice the hidden Mickey above!

Captain Jack Sparrow even came to visit!

Okay, from here we go to the "Monorail Resorts" The Grand Floridian and The Contemporary. The tradition of the Gingerbread Houses started with the Grand Floridian. They have been doing a house here for 14 years now.

Gingerbread shingle cross section

Gingerbread assortment

Roasted Chestnuts (complimentary!) in front of the Grand Floridian!

This is available 12 to 6 pm daily.

The white chocolate sculpture figurines have edible gold on them! But since I was on a quest for gingerbread, I selected a Gingerbread shingle and a bag of assorted gingerbread pieces. Some were chocolate covered, some had a sugar coating but all were delicious. I found the shingle, which I was told was made from an authentic Austrian recipe exclusive to the Grand Floridian, was a bit dry and didn't have a lot of molasses or "spice" for my taste. The assorted bag of gingerbread pieces was a better choice in my opinion. There is everything here from hand made candy boxes containing chocolate pieces to gluten free breads from baby cakes and even an authentic marzipan stolen bread recipe.

My last stop was the Contemporary Hotel. The display here is in the Grand Canyon Concourse, so just hop the monorail from the Grand Floridian and get off here to the Mary Blair inspired display:

More Hidden Mickeys!

The Gingerbread shingles here are about 1.50 more than the ones at the Grand Floridian. They also have a gold Mickey embossed on them and are made from a different recipe than the ones at the Grand Floridian. They have a white chocolate monorail filled with milk chocolate candies too! They also had a nice variety of different cookies and even a granola mix! I much preferred the gingerbread boy I chose at the Contemporary to the shingle from the Grand Floridian. It was moist and slightly spicy with just the right amount of decorative frosting. If you are doing this tour on the day that you go to the MVMCP you would simply take the monorail from here to the Magic Kingdom and use that ticket to get in at 4pm!

Both the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian displays are open from 10am to 10pm and they have special demonstrations daily of everything from a demo of making a gingerbread house to decorating your own gingerbread boy or snowflake cookie! I hope you have fun taking this foodie tour of the gingerbread treats and decorations available at the various locations around Walt Disney World Resort!